My Childhood in Books
When asked to list down my interests, I have always included "reading" as one of them. The rest of the list varies on my interests at the time, but reading was a constant in my life for as long as I can remember.
I suppose that I've inherited my love for reading from my mother and my grandmother, both of whom have also loved reading ever since they were children. In fact, my grandmother would still read any book that she can get her hands on. Our shared favourite is the Anne of Green Gables Series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, which we started to read together when I was 15. Even though she's nearing 70, she would often still ask me whether I've read this book or that one and would recommend the books she's reading at the moment.
My family can't be categorised as rich, but they have always supported my love for reading. Almost every Christmas, birthday, or Chinese New Year presents would be books, or money that I would spend on buying books. When I was in elementary school, I made an arrangement with my parents to give me a weekly "book allowance" of Rp. 25.000,- or roughly €1,5 in the current exchange rate. I could save it up to buy a more expensive book, but I couldn't cash it in. In the early 2000, that amount of money could probably get me a thin teenlit novel. As I get older and was given my own allowance, I had to work out how to buy books from my own pocket money.
Of course, this wasn't nearly enough for me. This is where my love for libraries begin. My elementary and middle school library didn't boast a vast collection of novels, but they were enough for me. And so, every week I would borrow as much books as I could- I think the maximal was 3 books at a time- and return them the next week for a new set of books. I would run from my classroom to the library on my 15-minutes break time, and spent a lot of them picking the books and reading blurbs.
In elementary and middle school, most of my library reading consists of translated novels such as The Princess Diaries, Goosebumps, and the works of Enid Blyton, a lot of which are very old ones from 1960s.
My very first proper novel was the indonesian-translated version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which I bought when I was 8 years old for Rp. 32.000,-. That's right, my introduction to the Harry Potter world (which I still love 14 years later) was with the second book, not the first one. Ever since then, my mother and grandmother would gift me the Harry Potter books as they came out and complete my collections.
The works of Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl were also one of my favourites. Of Enid Blyton, the Malory Towers, St. Clare's, and the Famous Five Series taught me a lot of friendship and mystery-solving. Whilst Matilda, the Witches, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remains one of the most thought-provoking books I read under the age of ten.
I also read quite a few of cute, harmless teenlits that were a great source of entertainment. I would say that even today, I would still view reading as a sort of escapism; a way to be entertained and have fun. Maybe this is why I am not a great fan of heavy, classical literatures (except for Pride and Prejudice), as I find them an effort to read.
I had also loved the His Dark Materials Series Phillip Pullman, although my favourite book of the serie is still The Golden Compass. However, the newly released The Book of Dust of the La Belle Sauvage Series is also wonderful.
I received the Golden Compass as a Christmas present one year along with another children book that I didn't know was famous until recently. The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (a dutch author who I had just found out to be born in my home town, Jakarta) remains a complexly intriguing book that I loved. I had recently read the sequel, The Secrets of the Wild Wood.
So far the books I have mentioned are translated works of foreign authors, but I did read a lot of indonesian novels as well. I had loved Jurnal Jo (Jo's Journal) by Ken Terate, as well as many of her teenlit novels. The Naked Traveler Series, by Trinity, which I had mentioned in the "Early Blogging Inspiration" post, remained a favourite, and the Glam Girls Series had prepared me (in an exaggerated way) for the new world I'll be entering -that is to say, my high school years in an international school.
At 14, I read my first untranslated novel, sparked from watching the by then newly released movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Continuing with my non-sensical way of reading novels out of their series order, I first read the last book of the Percy Jackson Series, Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian, when I bought the book as my own birthday present that year.
At this point in time, I had roped my best friend in to read these english novels with me. For years after that, we would import the new works of Rick Riordan, like his Heroes of Olympus Series, together, as english books aren't easy to find in Indonesia, and often very expensive.
I can safely say that I still love all of these books, and I've read them all at least three times over (I do love rereading books). I have also continued to read other works of the authors, even though my age falls way beyond their targeted market. I believe that you should read whatever you like and enjoy, no matter how silly it may seem to other people.
xo,
Maria
I suppose that I've inherited my love for reading from my mother and my grandmother, both of whom have also loved reading ever since they were children. In fact, my grandmother would still read any book that she can get her hands on. Our shared favourite is the Anne of Green Gables Series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, which we started to read together when I was 15. Even though she's nearing 70, she would often still ask me whether I've read this book or that one and would recommend the books she's reading at the moment.
My family can't be categorised as rich, but they have always supported my love for reading. Almost every Christmas, birthday, or Chinese New Year presents would be books, or money that I would spend on buying books. When I was in elementary school, I made an arrangement with my parents to give me a weekly "book allowance" of Rp. 25.000,- or roughly €1,5 in the current exchange rate. I could save it up to buy a more expensive book, but I couldn't cash it in. In the early 2000, that amount of money could probably get me a thin teenlit novel. As I get older and was given my own allowance, I had to work out how to buy books from my own pocket money.
Of course, this wasn't nearly enough for me. This is where my love for libraries begin. My elementary and middle school library didn't boast a vast collection of novels, but they were enough for me. And so, every week I would borrow as much books as I could- I think the maximal was 3 books at a time- and return them the next week for a new set of books. I would run from my classroom to the library on my 15-minutes break time, and spent a lot of them picking the books and reading blurbs.
In elementary and middle school, most of my library reading consists of translated novels such as The Princess Diaries, Goosebumps, and the works of Enid Blyton, a lot of which are very old ones from 1960s.
My very first proper novel was the indonesian-translated version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which I bought when I was 8 years old for Rp. 32.000,-. That's right, my introduction to the Harry Potter world (which I still love 14 years later) was with the second book, not the first one. Ever since then, my mother and grandmother would gift me the Harry Potter books as they came out and complete my collections.
The works of Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl were also one of my favourites. Of Enid Blyton, the Malory Towers, St. Clare's, and the Famous Five Series taught me a lot of friendship and mystery-solving. Whilst Matilda, the Witches, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remains one of the most thought-provoking books I read under the age of ten.
I also read quite a few of cute, harmless teenlits that were a great source of entertainment. I would say that even today, I would still view reading as a sort of escapism; a way to be entertained and have fun. Maybe this is why I am not a great fan of heavy, classical literatures (except for Pride and Prejudice), as I find them an effort to read.
I had also loved the His Dark Materials Series Phillip Pullman, although my favourite book of the serie is still The Golden Compass. However, the newly released The Book of Dust of the La Belle Sauvage Series is also wonderful.
I received the Golden Compass as a Christmas present one year along with another children book that I didn't know was famous until recently. The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (a dutch author who I had just found out to be born in my home town, Jakarta) remains a complexly intriguing book that I loved. I had recently read the sequel, The Secrets of the Wild Wood.
 |
| The Secret of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt |
So far the books I have mentioned are translated works of foreign authors, but I did read a lot of indonesian novels as well. I had loved Jurnal Jo (Jo's Journal) by Ken Terate, as well as many of her teenlit novels. The Naked Traveler Series, by Trinity, which I had mentioned in the "Early Blogging Inspiration" post, remained a favourite, and the Glam Girls Series had prepared me (in an exaggerated way) for the new world I'll be entering -that is to say, my high school years in an international school.
At 14, I read my first untranslated novel, sparked from watching the by then newly released movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Continuing with my non-sensical way of reading novels out of their series order, I first read the last book of the Percy Jackson Series, Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian, when I bought the book as my own birthday present that year.
At this point in time, I had roped my best friend in to read these english novels with me. For years after that, we would import the new works of Rick Riordan, like his Heroes of Olympus Series, together, as english books aren't easy to find in Indonesia, and often very expensive.
I can safely say that I still love all of these books, and I've read them all at least three times over (I do love rereading books). I have also continued to read other works of the authors, even though my age falls way beyond their targeted market. I believe that you should read whatever you like and enjoy, no matter how silly it may seem to other people.
xo,
Maria
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